For those who don't know - Pink Shirt Day originated in Nova Scotia, where a student was bullied for wearing pink. The friends of the student that was bullied, David Shepherd and Travis Price, distributed pink shirts to grade 9 students who wore them in support of their friend who was bullied. Since then, pink shirt day is celebrated all over the world as a statement against bullying and homophobia.

We love this demonstration of solidarity against bullying!

One of my favorite campaigns that we did a few years ago was called the "Super Power Project" where we used video to help youth tell stories about gender oppression and violence against women. What was interesting, was that we were able to engage with boys about how to be allies to people around them that might be having difficult experiences. While we may not share the same experiences, the great thing about solidarity is that we can still support those around us, and build a community of caring, empathetic, loving people. Pink shirt day is great example of how we can do that!

David Ng is a Hello Cool World veteran with experience going back a decade. David first worked with us when he was just 14 years old as a participant in the youth advisory group for the sexual health education program Condomania. Now an accomplished videographer passionate about the issues of gender and power, he is currently on sabbatical in South Africa while he pursues a Masters in Gender Studies with a focus on international development.

We want to join with our friends at the Canadian Federation of Sexual Health, and OptBC to 'Heart Your Parts' on this Valentine's day.

February 14th is always a special day to us because it not only marks our birthday as a company, but also because "LOVE" is such a big part of the work that we do. We've been known for our sexy campaigns in the past,and as we like to say, 'putting safe sex in advertising where it belongs." But we also do some work that's more heart-felt than risque.

We particularly love working with Chee Mamuk (Aboriginal program of the BC CDC), on their sexual health campaigns around HIV.

Last month, we did a photo shoot with a group of six people who are all affected by HIV in some way for a new book that Chee Mamuk is putting together. All the participants talked about how love and support from their communities is so important. One woman who is HIV positive told us about how she was able to get healthier because of her partner, and how his love and commitment - as someone who is HIV negative - was the ultimate support that allowed her to get help and get healthy. We're just working on the layout of this book now, so stay tuned for when it launches.

All of this work reminds us that love is the only way that we can conquer stigma around HIV, and love is the best way we can support those living with HIV. You can also check out a short video we did for Chee Mamuk and the First Nations Health Authority about the Around the Kitchen Table program.

We're very committed to all our work around sexual health, and harm reduction. Another project with 'heart' that we're working on is the Toward the Heart Website and e'zine. Check it out! We're looking forward to connecting with more people who are doing sexual health work in our communities. Stay tuned.

It's February! And around Hello Cool World you know what that means! Time to show our campaigns some love...

It's no surprise Valentine's day is also our company anniversary, and this year we're a teenager - we turn 13! Every year we're reminded that we founded Hello Cool World because we love what we do.

Sexual Health, Harm Reduction, love and respect for the planet and for indigenous people, promoting heart-felt causes like our #4Eva campaign in honour of Eva Markvoort, and of course our love for people-over-profits through our work with the The Corporation film.

Our #4Eva art cards and heart tees also make great valentine gifts. (And February is also heart month, big congrats to Mark Wilson who sent us a photo of him wearing his #4Eva heart shirt while celebrating his one-year transplantiversary last week!

But even if you opt for another gift from our store, all these sales support our campaigns, (which of course you can also donate directly to):

The Corporation 10th Anniversary Year - In May we will launch our crowd-funding for our 10th Anniversary year to re-build our Corporation and Hello Cool World website systems to create an ongoing legacy for our orgnanizing work with our do-gooder cohorts. Join us for a year of organizing, dialogue, and actions!

Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.

Ten years ago, on January 16, 2004 was a busy day for us all. That evening, The Corporation launched in Canadian theatres, was screening at Sundance, and was ALSO playing at the World Social Forum in Mumbai.

Ten years later, we are reflecting back on the film, the launches and how exciting it was to connect with so many amazing people across the world. Most importantly we're looking forward to what we can do to create a legacy for the film's message, and the work that still needs to be done. Because frankly, we've never needed to fight back against corporate omnipresence more than we do now. We're not done yet!

Our plan is to spend the next year celebrating The Corporation's successes, while engaging with even more people to reduce corporate harm, to connect the causes we care about, and to take action for people over profits.

We'll be tabling to promote all our projects, and of course the long-awaited new release of Picturing Transformation Nexw-áyantsut, the book I co-wrote with Chief Bill Williams and Nancy Bleck. Check it out at www.PicturingTransformation.com. Please join us on November 21 at Emily Carr Universtity for a Traditional Coast Salish Utsám' Witness Ceremony to officially launch the book! info on our launches page.

David Ng and I will be joined at our table by Duane Stewart-Grant, one of the first youth we worked with for the Star in Your Own Stories workshops with Chee Mamuk. You can see the video he helped make with his community at Kitamaat Village at www.YouthHaveThePower.com!